Another chapter that is from the books (Chapter 21, The Unknowable Room, HP&tHBP). Fair warning that some of the dialogue has been tweaked slightly if it seems off.

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The question kept nagging at her over the following days. It became a near constant unwanted litany that was always there. Waiting for a slow moment, where her mind wasn't distracted by schoolwork or her other responsibilities, to creep up and badger her already frayed nerves.

How?... How?... How?

And the same stifling quiet that had met her inquiry that night always answered her. What more could she do when he had spurned her attempt to convince him to go to someone for actual help?

Other than betray him and reach out herself…

An option that kept coming back during her ruminations. She hated the thought. Deceiving Draco after gaining the meager amount of trust she had would be absolutely unforgivable. Tantamount to Delilah's treasonous actions against Samson and that was if he was incorrect and Narcissa Malfoy was somehow saved. If she ended up perishing... Hermione would be lucky to survive long with the witch's blood on her hands.

So she respectfully refrained, worried about what her inaction could also lead to. Her dreams brought to life her mute imaginings in horrible detail. It surprised her that no one picked up on the more obvious signs of the underlying tension in her life. From the copious volume of caffeine she ingested every day to the way she stiffened every time she walked into the Great Hall. Stealing herself for the day that the mood at the Slytherin table altered her to the fact that something had happened... Everything about her decorum felt wrong.

Granted she worked hard to continue to project that everything was fine. Maybe better than fine considering how things with Ron were slowly working their way to normal. That is as long as he wasn't having to run off to placate the suckerfish about spending purely platonic time with her... The spiteful part of her enjoyed that she got under the girl's skin, even Harry always being with them did little to staunch Lavender's jealousy.

A little over a week after Draco's unexpected visit, Hermione sat in front of the crackling fire in the common room with Harry and Ron. She had just handed Ron back his essay on dementors, which had been thoroughly mangled by a worn out Spell-Check quill, when all of a sudden a loud pop pierced the relaxed stillness.

Her squeal of surprise was quickly cut off as Harry exclaimed excitedly. "Kreacher!"

Ron's use of some of the more fouler curses he knew became background noise to Kreacher's bowed greeting. "Master said he wanted regular reports on what the Malfoy boy is doing, so Kreacher has come to give..."

Another crack produced Dobby at the older house elf's side, looking rather frazzled with his tea-cozy hat lopsided on his head and a disgruntled glare for his companion. "Dobby has been helping too, Harry Potter! And Kreacher ought to tell Dobby when he is coming to see Harry Potter so they can make their reports together!"

She sat there frozen in shock as her eyes flicked between Harry and the two elves in turn. The realization of what the sudden appearances and unexpected words meant took a few seconds to sink in. When it finally did, she tried to keep her anger in check as she asked for verification. "What is this? What is going on Harry?"

"Well... They... They've been following Malfoy for me." He admitted hesitantly.

"Night and day." Confirmed Kreacher, who continued to stare at his toes with a baleful glare.

"Dobby has not slept in a week, Harry Potter!" Dobby interjected proudly. The house elf swayed slightly, as if suddenly registering just how sleep-deprived his little body was.

Compartmentalizing the anger she felt at the ramifications the truth had for her and Draco, Hermione decided to deal with the more immediate issue. "Surely, Harry, you didn't tell him not to..."

"No! Of course, I didn't!" Harry defended himself and quickly rushed on. "Dobby, you can sleep, alright!? But have either of you found out anything?"

"Master Malfoy moves with the nobility that befits his pure blood." Croaked Kreacher. "His features recall the fine bones of my mistress and his manners are those of..."

"Draco Malfoy is a bad boy! A bad boy who... who..." Dobby cut in impatiently. Abruptly the elf went to throw himself into the fire but Harry caught him around the middle, holding the struggling being until he went limp and panted. "Thank you, Harry Potter... Dobby still finds it difficult to speak ill of his old master."

Renewed by some invisible burst of energy the tiny house elf stood up, fixed his makeshift hat and said defiantly to his unwilling partner in espionage. "But Kreacher should know that Draco Malfoy is not a good master to a house elf."

Hermione sat there quietly as the memory of Draco's macabre joke about her surprise being a house elf's hand took on a darker light. She blanched and had to take a slow deep breath to curb the sudden bout of nausea that rose up.

"Yeah, we don't need to hear about you being in love with Malfoy. Let's fast forward to where he's actually been going." Harry told Kreacher.

The old elf bowed again before answering with a tone full of malice. "Master Malfoy eats in the Great Hall, he sleeps in a dormitory in the dungeons, he attends his classes in a variety of..."

Clearly annoyed Harry interrupted the purposely generalized response and turned his attention back to the other elf. "Dobby, you tell me. Has he been going anywhere he shouldn't have?"

Her heart started to hammer in her chest. How long had they been following him? Just the week Dobby had mentioned? Or... Or was it longer? What exactly had they seen? She tried to take another deep breath as she waited for the answer but the tightness in her chest wouldn't allow it. The resulting violent tremble in her hands had her clutching her knees in an effort to cover it up.

"Harry Potter, sir, the Malfoy boy is breaking no rules that Dobby can discover but he is still keen to avoid detection." Dobby squeaked, nervously rubbing hands together before continuing. "He has been making regular trips to the seventh floor with a variety of other students, who keep watch for him while he enters..."

"The Room of Requirement!" Harry said excitedly, smacking himself on the forehead with his Potions book. "That's where he has been sneaking off to! That's where he's doing... whatever he is doing! And I bet that is why he's been disappearing off the map. Come to think of it, I have never seen the Room of Requirement on there!"

"Maybe the Marauders never knew the room was there." Ron offered up as an explanation.

Finally able to breathe and fill her burning lungs when it became clear that neither of Harry's spies knew anything about their relationship, Hermione offered up the theory that had made the most sense to her when Harry first became obsessive. "I think it is part of the magic of the room. If you need it to be Unplottable, it will be."

Relief and sorrow at losing the only obscurity she and Draco had to work under made an odd mixture in her stomach, causing it to roll again. She had to swallow hard to keep herself from gagging and losing her supper.

"Dobby, have you managed to get in to have a look at what Malfoy's doing?" Harry asked eagerly.

"No, Harry Potter, that is impossible." Dobby said, confirming what she already knew.

"No it's not. Malfoy got into our headquarters there last year so I'll be able to get in and spy on him. No problem." The boy argued cheerfully. She could plainly see the new plan forming inside of his head. Adding fuel to the fire of his fixation.

Trying to bring some rationale to the conversation she started slowly, hoping in vain that he would listen. "I don't think you will, Harry. Malfoy already knew exactly how we were using the room because that stupid Marietta had blabbed. He needed the room to become the headquarters of the D.A., so it did. But you do not know what the room becomes when Malfoy goes in there, so you can't possibly know what to ask it to transform into."

"There will be a way around that." Harry said dismissively before turning to the younger house elf. "You've done brilliantly, Dobby."

She watched as the other ancient elf's glare narrowed even more and she spoke up attempting to placate the magical being. "Kreacher's done well too."

As always, Kreacher reacted negatively to her attention. His eyes rolled from his toes up to the ceiling and he croaked loudly. "The Mudblood is speaking to Kreacher. Kreacher will pretend he cannot hear..."

"Oh, get out of it!" Snapped Harry, instantly pissed at the use of the derogatory term. The house elf happily followed the command, disapparating after taking a low bow of forced respect. Much more nicely, Harry dismissed Dobby. "You had better go and get some sleep too."

"Thank you, Harry Potter, sir!"

Nearly trembling from his giddiness at the compliments heaped on him the tiny elf immediately disappeared. Leaving the room empty except for the three of them once again. Harry turned back towards her and Ron, his green eyes shining feverishly in the shadows cast on his face by the fire. "How good is this?! We know where Malfoy is going! We have him cornered now!"

"Yeah, it's great." Ron said dolefully. His tone betraying the excitement their friend was looking for. He was attempting to mop up the drying ink that had spilled when he was startled by the house elves' entrances.

Grateful for something to give her a few moments to gather herself before responding, Hermione reached over and pulled the sodden parchment in front of her. She siphoned the ink off with her wand absentmindedly, letting her mind wander. Her inner thoughts falling from her lips before she even made the choice to voice them. "But what is all this about him going up there with a variety of students? How many people are in on it? You wouldn't think he'd trust lots of them to know what he is doing..."

Hell, she knew he wouldn't. There was no way he would bring multiple people into whatever he was doing for Voldermort. Not when he wouldn't trust her with any kind of information about it and she had proven herself trustworthy by staying quiet about everything so far.

"That is weird." Harry recognized, frowning. "I heard him telling Crabbe it wasn't his business what he was doing... So what is he telling all these... all these..."

He trailed off in thought for a second before suddenly sitting up, animated again. "Gods, I've been so stupid. It is obvious, isn't it? There was a great vat of it down in the dungeon. He could've nicked some any time during that lesson..."

"Nicked what?" Ron asked the natural follow-up question to the ramblings.

"Polyjuice Potion! He stole some of the Polyjuice Potion Slughorn showed us in our first lesson! There are not a whole variety of students standing guard for Malfoy... It's just Crabbe and Goyle, as usual... Yes, it all fits!" Harry continued his rantings as he stood and started to pace back and forth in front of them. "They're stupid enough to do what they're told even if he won't tell them what he's up to... But he doesn't want them to be seen lurking around outside the Room of Requirement, so he has them take Polyjuice to make them look like other people! Those two girls I saw him with... Crabbe and Goyle!"

"Do you... do you mean to say that the little girl whose scales I repaired?" Her voice was hushed as she worked over his words. It made sense for Draco to have guards during the day. He couldn't guarantee his safety or privacy with students able to walk by at any time.

"Yeah, of course! Malfoy must have been inside the room at the time, so she -what am I talking about- he dropped the scales to tell Malfoy not to come out because there was someone there! And that girl who dropped the toad spawn too! We've been walking past him all the time and not realizing it!" He said loudly, staring at her as if he expected her to come up with something to unravel his theory.

Unable to do so she stared back silently, Ron interrupted the odd stand off with a guffaw and quickly explained. "Blimey! He's got Crabbe and Goyle transformin' into girls! It's no wonder they don't look too happy these days. I am surprised they don't tell him to stuff it..."

"Well, they wouldn't if he's shown them his Dark Mark..." Harry explained impatiently.

The conversation was getting much too close to the truth, Hermione tried derailing it. "Hmmm... The Dark Mark we don't even know exists..."

"We'll see!" Harry taunted her.

"Yes, we will." She said with a sigh as she got up, his warranted confidence was irksome and she did not want to lash out. A quick stretch gave her time to calm her thoughts before continuing. "But Harry... Before you get all excited, I still don't think you will be able to get into the Room of Requirement without knowing what's there first. And I also don't think you should forget that you are supposed to be concentrating on getting that memory from Slughorn."

Hermione grabbed her bag, sliding it onto her shoulder as she pierced him with a serious look that caused him to quickly drop his gaze from hers. Hurriedly walking away from the pair she called behind her. "Good night!"

Neither said anything and they both stayed completely silent as she made her way up the stairs and then closed the door to her dorm. She looked around at each of the beds, their curtains closed tightly to obscure the occupants from view and was glad that she didn't have to deal with any faked niceties.

Quickly getting ready for bed, she climbed under the covers and pulled her necklace from the confines of her pajama top. Her hands shook as she sent the message she knew would only bolster the seething hatred between the two boys.

House-elves

It only took a couple of moments and the metal was heating the skin of her palm. She opened the clasp and looked down at his confused response.

What?

Taking a deep breath she steadied her hand before answering.

Harry watching

House-elves

This pause was longer. Draco was undoubtedly struggling to come to terms with her unexpected revelation. Eventually the heat signaled he had replied and she looked at the elegant calligraphic script etched into the polished silver.

Shit

His simple but precise synopsis had her shaking her head and closing the locket. There wasn't anything else to say…

She rolled onto her side and buried her face into her pillow to stifle the sobs that finally overtook her. Safe to allow the feelings of hopelessness to descend, she rocked back and forth in a desperate effort to soothe herself.

What were they going to do now...?